Hoecken was born in Belgium and entered the Society of Jesus there. He joined the Jesuit mission effort based at St. Louis in the 1830s, working among the Indians of Kansas. While recuperating from illness in St. Louis, he shared mission stories with Philippine Rose Duchesne, inspiring her to join the apostolate to Native Americans. He died on a steamboat on the Missouri River, en route to the Rocky Mountains with his colleague Pierre De Smet.